Friday, June 23, 2017

The histories of Athens and Sparta—the most dominant cities of classical
Greece—are of vital importance to understanding the story of Western
Civilization. In Athens, great thinkers such as Plato examined universal
philosophical questions. In Sparta, the martial virtues, including the
virtue of courage, were mastered. A careful study of these two cities
reveals timeless lessons about human nature and human conflict.

This article was originally published in Southern Partisan magazine in 1994.

The past—what we believe happened and what we think it means—can be a
very slippery customer. Even the recent past can be elusive. In the
early 1950s, when I was a student at Johns Hopkins, C. Vann Woodward
gave an amusing but provocative talk called “Can We Believe Our
History?” He pointed out that what we think we know was true can very
suddenly seem to have been not true after all. For example, he reminded
us that during the Second World War, then just a few years in the past,
Americans knew that the Japanese were Oriental monsters of unspeakable
brutality, whereas the Chinese were our little brown brothers. Yet very
quickly all that changed. In the wake of the Communists’ victory in
China and Chinese intervention in the Korean War, the Chinese became
Oriental monsters of unspeakable brutality and the Japanese were now our
little brown brothers.

A freshman member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus is calling
for special counsel Robert Mueller to recuse himself from the Russia
investigation because he has brought on "highly partisan" lawyers to
help with the probe.

"Special Counsel Robert Mueller should recuse himself because the
integrity of his appointment is in question due to former FBI Director
James Comey's manipulative leaks and the relationship between Mr. Comey
and Mr. Mueller," Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said in a statement
Friday. "His ability to be impartial is doubtful because he has
surrounded himself with highly partisan lawyers who make a special
practice to line the coffers of Democrats."

News outlets have reported
at least three lawyers Mueller has hired to help conduct his
investigation have donated almost exclusively to Democrats. Also,
Mueller and Comey are friends and former colleagues.

On Thursday, Debbie Wasserman Schultz put out a statement disputing
former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson’s testimony that the DNC refused help
to protect its network despite receiving warnings about a hack.

Both Jeh Johnson and former FBI Director James Comey both testified
that the DNC refused to turn over the server so that they could examine
it and investigate the hack.

But Wassermann Schultz’s statement disputed that, saying that they
had never contacted her, seemingly directly contradicting their
testimony.

On Thursday afternoon, Wasserman Schultz doubled down and gave an
interview where she ripped the FBI and the DHS for doing nothing to help
the DNC.

I just ruined over a thousand rounds of ammo to find out which ammo
storage containers really work in harsh environments. A little over a
year ago, I sank four ammo containers full of ammunition to the bottom
of a muddy pond. Two of the ammo storage containers were made out of a
rugged poly material, and two of the containers were common mil-spec
steel cans used for storing .50 ammo or .30 ammo. All of the containers
had rubber gaskets.

A record label has dropped the band Dream Machine after two of its
members were caught expressing “ugly opinions” about political
correctness, safe spaces, feminism and immigration.

In a Facebook statement yesterday,
Castle Face Records criticized comments that musician couple Doris and
Matthew Melton made during an interview with the French publication Still in Rock.While
the California-based record label can’t pull the album it released in
May, it vowed to donate profits from sales to charity.

“We’re horrified and ashamed by this, and we appreciate people being
upset but respectful in letting us know how they felt about it,” the
record label posted on Facebook. (Get your thumb out of your ass)

A new Rasmussen poll reports
that a majority of voters think so, and it certainly feels that way.
Since Donald Trump’s election in November, the pace and intensity of
deeply divisive rhetoric has accelerated. Antifa and the Alt-Right are
literally fighting in the streets. Combative talking heads on cable
news, vicious social media exchanges, riots at universities, a bitter
special election in Georgia, and even the shooting of a congressman have
both sides rethinking the entire political process and talking about
abandoning the “rule of law.”

It is an uneasy time, a time for hard questions. Can politics really
provide a solution to our problems, or is it the cause? Should we still
abide by democratic processes when a significant portion of the country
is enraged by the outcome? What if voting and elections simply weren’t
anymore? These are the questions we need to ask and answer honestly.

Back in the middle of May, when former FBI Director James Comey
testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, there was an
interesting interaction during the questioning from Sen. Chuck Grassley
(R-IA).

Grassley said at that time that if President Donald Trump was not
under investigation that Comey should make that public as it was wrong
to imply he was under investigation if he was not, that it was harmful
and divisive for America.

Reading between the lines, it was very clear that Grassley had been told by Comey that Trump was not under investigation.

Comey, of course, failed to take his advice, perhaps putting the nail
in Comey’s ability to remain as FBI Director. Had he done so, perhaps
none of what followed would have happened.

Grassley said on Thursday that this failure to tell the public harmed America and actually served Russia’s purpose.

Woman ambushed outside her home in Hawija, Kirkuk by unknown attackersSource said she had bitten 'more than 200 women' who violated modesty codeISIS has controlled the area since 2014, when it declared a caliphate from Mosul.

The reason I'm relaying this e-mail message from the Veterans of Foreign Warsis to alert my fellow veterans of the need for verification of their military service, in order to be eligible to use the Post Exchange (i.e., or "Base Exchange" for Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps veterans) on the Internet when it becomes available to us on and after this coming Veterans Day, Saturday 11 November 2017.

To read this relayed message from the Veterans of Foreign Wars, please scroll down the page and click on the words, "SHOW ORIGINAL MESSAGE".

Custer County, CO has long been a beacon of liberty in this country, not
just Colorado, because the citizens there have taken back their own
liberty, have established that crucial cooperation between armed
citizens and law enforcement, have realigned their county commission to
reflect their political views and have established their own rival
"conservative" newspaper to speak to the majority. All of this in a town
of about 800 people.

Custer Country, is, in a lot of ways, a model of what should be taking
place across the nation. We all know that the local papers pursue a
liberal agenda, even if they are deep in conservative territory. I
imagine they believe themselves the agents of illumination in the
darkened areas of rural America.

Or, they are simply evil collectivists
pursuing their agenda in an attempt to eradicate any tendency toward
capitalism, freedom and self-determination. It doesn't matter what
motivates them, the result is the same.

President Trump's legal team plans to file its complaint against
former FBI Director James Comey with the Justice Department inspector
general and the Senate Judiciary Committee as early as next week.

A source close to Trump outside counsel Marc Kasowitz's team said
they are "looking toward next week" to file the complaint. Lawyers are
working to make sure the submissions are "thorough and complete," the
source told the Washington Examiner on Friday.

A majority of voters believe the Russia investigations are damaging
to the country and are eager to see Congress shift its focus to
healthcare, terrorism, national security, the economy and jobs.

Those are the findings of the latest Harvard-Harris Poll survey,
provided exclusively to The Hill, which paints a complicated picture of
voters’ opinions about the numerous probes that have engulfed the White
House.

Sixty-four percent of voters said the investigations into
President Trump and Russia are hurting the country. Fifty-six percent of
voters said it’s time for Congress and the media to move on to other
issues, compared to 44 percent who said the focus should stay on Russia.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Friday that one key element that needs to
be included in the Senate healthcare bill is a connection between
consumers and healthcare providers.

Paul is one of four Republicans who have said he can't support the bill, in part because it doesn't do enough to lower prices for consumers.

He also said the way people shop for Lasik eye surgery is a good
example of how prices can drop when consumers are more involved.

"The reason capitalism doesn't work in healthcare is the consumer is
disconnected from the product," Paul said on MSNBC. "Consumers do not
make decisions based on price in healthcare, except for a few
exceptions."

"Lasik surgery, when you want to get surgery to get rid of glasses,
everybody asks the price," said Paul, an eye surgeon. "The average
consumer calls four different doctors. It's a very sophisticated laser,
million dollar laser, and yet the price has gone down by three-quarters
over 15 years."

Future
Veterans Affairs clinics could feature fewer maternity services, fewer
cancer specialists and more reliance on private-sector clinics for
routine or non-military care, under Secretary David Shulkin’s vision for
the department.

But he insists that doesn’t amount to privatization of VA’s responsibilities.

“I
am interested in building world-class services in things I know the
veterans of this country must rely upon us for,” he told reporters at a
roundtable event Tuesday morning. “I’m not interested in building
world-class services that already exist.”

“We don’t have enough
resources to do everything. So let’s build an integrated system that
relies on what already exists in the private sector with what needs to
be enhanced in the VA.”

For months, Shulkin and top congressional
Republicans have insisted that criticisms their plans would “privatize”
VA services are unfounded, and that the $180 billion-plus department
will not be slowly dismantled in favor of commercial medical options.

Remembrance

To die for one’s country is not only an act of bravery, it is THE act of bravery. For soldiers, it is just an extension of their military career, a part of their duty. As leaders have asked their soldiers to sacrifice themselves for the good of the society, it is only right for leaders to go through the same motion. They should practice what they have preached.

As war is seen as a noble act, tu sat serves as redemption in case of defeat. It is also a way to tell the enemy: “You might have won the battle/war but you don’t deserve to win because you don’t have the chinh nghia (just cause).” And it is not only just cause: it is the moral belief that the cause they are fighting for deserves their total sacrifice. Continues below

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Core Creek Militia

==============================My sixth great grandfather, his wife, and five of his six children were killed in battle with the Tuscarora Indians at Core Creek, NC.

The Seven Blackbirds

==============================My third great grandfather was an Ensign in the Revolutionary War, and saved his unit's flag after being wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. He was also at Kingston (Kinston), Wilmington, Charleston, Two Sisters and Augusta. He was at the defeat at Brier Creek and also Bee Creek.

Requiem Aeternam -
Eternal Rest Grant unto Them
==============================
My second great grandfather was killed in action on May 3, 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
=============================
My great grandfather and great uncle knew all the men in the "Civil War Requiem" video as they were part of the 53rd NC which was the sole unit defending Fort Mahone. (Fort Mahone was named "Fort Damnation" by the Yankees) *Handpicked men of the 53rd (My great grandfather was one of these) made the final, night assault at Petersburg in an attempt to break Grant's line. This was against Fort Stedman which was a few miles to the slight northeast. They initially succeeded, but reinforcements drove them back. This video is made from photographs which were taken the day after the 53rd evacuated the lines the night before to begin the retreat to Appomattox. I have many more pictures taken by the same photographer, one of these shows a 14 year old boy and the other is the famous picture of the blond, handsome soldier with his musket.
===========================
*General Gordon promised the men a gold medal and 30 days leave if they accomplished their task and many years after the War my great grandfather wrote General Gordon, who was then governor of Georgia about this incident. They exchanged several letters which I have framed. See first link below.
===========================
*The Attack On Fort Stedman
============================
"His Colored Friends"
============================
Lee's Surrender
=============================
My Black NC Kinfolks
============================
Punished For Being Caught!

Great Grandfather Koonce

He was a drummer boy in the WBTS, survived the War only to die a few years later. He was caught in an ice storm on his way home, but instead of seeking shelter, continued on his horse until the end. His clothes had to be cut off and he died a few days later.